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Back in 2015, visionary and advocate Gustav Metzger launched one of his ultimate significant endeavors. Famed for pioneering auto-destructive art, Metzger had spent a lifetime to responding to societal issues from anti-nuclear advocacy to vegetarianism. In a brief video message, he requested support for a global day of action to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your involvement in this worldwide call for a day of action to remember nature on 4 November 2015,” he announced, encouraging cultural workers to resist the steady eradication of living beings. “Our responsibility is to remind people of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so art will enter domains that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Nature Remembrance

And so the Nature Remembrance initiative was born, a day when artists across the country produced pieces to the escalating planetary emergency. One of the curators, who worked closely with Metzger in his later life, recalls his drive for action. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the end of his life,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. Let’s not wait for sponsorship or for anyone to green light this. We should proceed.”

After Ten Years

After ten years, the project did not sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had hoped for, but supporters think its influence can still be seen in movements like artist-led declarations and environmental protests, as well as in how creatives consider the environmental impact of their methods. This is the reason she is reviving it to mark its decade milestone. Part of the key participants participating now are Cornelia Parker and other notable figures. All participants have designed posters, made video appeals, and created artworks set to be unveiled on November 4, 2025.

Planting Hope

When speaking to the artist, she is out in a field in a rural area, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a coiled garden. Working with schoolchildren, her project is half artwork and somewhat instructive. According to her, the design and cultivation sessions have already involved learning about mathematics (calculating the planting intervals), science (discussing the hereditary traits), and history (researching the journeys of how various cultivars were introduced to England).

Many of the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that releases red juice

“Several the apples were chosen because they’ve got funny names such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that ‘bleeds’ scarlet-colored sap. They all have stories behind them. The historical cultivar was brought over by the Romans. The Flower of Kent is the apple that dropped off a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more consciously engaged of the environment and the control we have over it. “In their experience, apples were just things you buy from a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, next time they were out, to look on the bag and see their names and where they were grown. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Nationwide

In London, Youngsook Choi’s Book of Loss will engage visitors searching Tate Modern on a journey to find the seven major glaciers that have been disappeared in recent years. Every ice sheet will be drawn on the museum surfaces using special pens. When located, a bell will ring and a recitation will be held to honor that particular glacier.

At the same time, up in a northern town, a creative will be presenting a public show about our alienation from the environment, as well as organizing a shared meal, made using regional food. In another city, an artist is sharing her environmental performance, in which community vocalists begin a project to use music to heal flora in a green space.

Young Insights

Following this approach, another participant will be working with schoolchildren – on the actual event she is aiming to decorate Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard in youth creations that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Kids’ art are powerful because they’re not as restricted as grown-ups’,” she says in her call to action video. “The contributions of youth to the world is something truly special and hopefully it will stimulate a awareness of obligation from us all. Children are innocent. They have concerns for tomorrow. But let’s not make it about anxiety – it should be about hope and making sure that they see a better world.”

Tributes and Thoughts

Another artist’s work also resonates for children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves illustrating avians and then embodying them – and for Remember Nature day he is planning to represent an iconic figure. He is also conducting a walking tour of the city, visiting various sites that have been part of his ongoing series over the last two decades. This endeavor commenced following he faced three incidents of homophobic abuse on a single day. As a reaction, Harfleet decided to place a bloom at the location of every incident and document it – the project has since expanded to incorporate experiences reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they fade quickly,” says Harfleet. “Apparently wildlife enjoys them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

Harfleet chose the flower not just for the obvious reason – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is reflective, and that, of course, is a terrible thing,” he says.

The plan on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at additional sites and also renew the tributes in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the incidents and his memories of them. “We’ve seen quite a few following earlier installations,” he says mournfully.

Progressing Optimistically

He desires his work – and